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PC will not boot up 2

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macten88

macten88

Technical User
May 11, 2004
212
US
I've got a Athlon 2400, new k7sem motherboard, 512M pc133, new 350 watt power supply, onboard video.

The pc would get to 'verify dmi pool data' and the screen would go blank and lock up.

I've got the motherboard, hardrive and power supply sitting on a table. There are no cards in the motherboard. I shorted the cmos jumper. Now it boots to a selection screen:

Normal boot
last known good
safe mode

I can use the arrow key to select safe mode or one of the others. But as soon as I hit 'enter', it locks up. I'm using just one Dimm module. I've tried the other one in Dimm1. I put the memory in my other desk top and it ran fine for 4 days.

When I go into pc health in the BIOS, all of the voltages are within spec and the cpu is running at 31*C. The power supply is new but is on the cheap side.

I used Ultra-x Quicktech Pro before I took everything out of the case. The old and new motherboards fail on the same two items:

fail to find SMBUS (system management bus)
Keyboard controler: BIOS buffer overun error

The version of Quicktech pro is a lot newer than the motherboard. Those error messages could be meaningless. Anyone have any ideas on what to do?
 
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I tried fail-safe defaults in the BIOS. They didn't help. I'm gona pick up a quality power supply tomorow.

Before I took everything out of the case, I installed a new hardrive cable and hardrive (Maxtor). I tried to load both W98 and W2000. Both would lock up after 5 or 6 minutes of copying files.

The cpu is an Athlon 2400 but shows up as 'unrecognized cpu, 1.5GHZ'. I don't know if that tells you anything or not.
Click to expand...

This is 100% a BIOS problem. It had not been programmed to handle that CPU yet and that in itself can A) keep the system from booting, and b) can cause the system to freeze before or during windows.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA
 
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One last question....I downloaded the flash utility and the BIOS file and did the 'extract'. What extracted was one .bin file. Looking at the example on ECS's website, it looks like they extracted: one .bin, one .exe and one .rom files.

When you typically flash a BIOS is it usually done with one .bin file?
 
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you have the flash utility, which is an exe file, and then generally a bin or rom or both.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA
 
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Looks like it didn't work. Flashing on the screen it says 'Unknown flash type'. (I double checked that i had the right one.)

Well i saved the old BIOS as k7seback.bin. Is there any way to get the old BIOS back?
 
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Could you type out here exactly what you typed to start the bios update?
Sometimes people dont type the extension and get an error message.
So, to clear that up, type out exactly what you typed.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips
 
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Here is a link to tell you how to find the right version of mobo and thus the right bios:

I dont know if its a click thru from the same page as above, if so click on the bios and keep clicking and you will get to the page that tells you how to find the correct bios.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips
 
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I dont know at this moment which is the right one, but i found an installer called awd832B.exe
And the bios is k7sem630.exe

But you need to make sure its the right one, i dont know the version of motherboard, you will either have to do that yourself or give us the mobo version numbers so we can help you out.
You have to click thru to the bios, but the flash prog and the bios listed above are for pcb ver 1.0

BIOS for K7SEM(PCB:1.0)- from ECS


Good advice + great people = tek-tips
 
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I emailed ECS and they said to flash with what you mentioned: awd832b sem630.bin

I got the same message: 'unknown flash type'. I emailed them back to see what they sugest next.

My guess would be that nothing so far has been written to the BIOS chip. Anyone agree or disagree?
 
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I agree!
Likely you havent followed the instructions to the letter.
I'm just guessing here.

Try doing the commands and include the extensions, like .exe

And just to make double sure read the instructions, better to print them out, but all these websites give pretty good instructions on how to flash the bios.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips
 
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its not overheating is it?

I had a similar problem, after i replaced a chip - and it turns out there was no silicon compound on the chip - so it was overheating and shutting down at BIOS level
 
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There may be another way around this. Check your mobo and see, some mobos have a "bios recovery" thru the use of jumper on the mobo.
You can also reset the bios on your mobo, dont know if you have tried that. Again, read the manual as they differ, but most of the time you disconnect ALL power sources from your mobo and then take coin battery out and move jumper from pin 1 and 2 to pin 2 and 3 and leave it about 5 min or so, but other mobos want you to boot that way as well! So you have to read the manual or check the website.
This is different from the bios recovery that is found on some mobos.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips
 
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There's a jumper that you change in order to write to the BIOS. The manual is a little confusing. Here's what it says:

JP3: BIOS write protect jumper.
use this jumper to make the BIOS read-only:

Function Jumper setting
disable short pins 1-2
enable short pins 2-3

1 2 3

I tried to flash with jumper on pins 2-3 because of a photo in the manual. Where does the jumper go for flashing?
 
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Without looking at there photo and just reading the above,it looks like I should have the jumper on pins 1-2 to flash it. If that's true, then who ever flashed the BIOS last forgot to move it back after he was done.
 
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Thats the problem, move it back to pins 1 and 2 instead of 2 and 3 and i bet it will boot ok!!


Good advice + great people = tek-tips
 
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You may very well not even have to flash the bios if you dont want or need to, once you have set the jumpers to pin 1 and pin 2. Thats where it should be in normal position and for flashing.

Is that a PC Chips or ECS mobo, i think they come that way with the pins on for reset instead of normal, normal is with jumpers on pins 1 and 2.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips
 
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I'v got the old board which i've been trying to flash with jumper on pins 2-3. (it's an ECS board) But I bought a new ECS board and I notice that it was shipped with the jumper on pins 1-2. So you would think that 1-2 is write-protected.

If i flash with the jumper in the wrong position i would think that I can't do any damage. True?
 
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To claify...there are 2 jumpers one to clear the CMOS and one to flash the BIOS chip. I'm talking about the jumper to flash the BIOS CHIP.
 
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